Discoveries of the Lost
by baby-kitsune9
Summary: the decepticons had a new weapon of potental mass destruction and had decided to test it on the Autobots friend Sam Witwickey. Sam died, the Autobots became mad with grief. Then something odd happened. Sam's body disappeared.
1. Chapter 1

Shockwave had been hard at work for several weeks on the development of a new weapon to use against the Autobots. To say that Megatron was pleased would be the understatment of the century.

He had gone out of his way to post Starscream outside of the lab to see to it that Shockwaves wasn't disturbed while he created the weapon.

Shockwave worked tirelessly for well over two weeks, designing, shaping, soldering and finding an adequate power source then after looking it over several times and checking it's systems he straitened to his full height. Now that the laser gun was done, all he had to do was test it out on something. Or to be more accurate-someone.

And he had just the person in mind to try the weapon on. All he had to do is get close enough and Sam Witwickey would be no more...

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Sam Witwickey pulled into the hanger of the secret Autobot base and quickly parked his car and jumped out.

"Bumblebee!" He yelled as loud as he could as he went tearing across the hanger as Bumblebee broke away from several other of his Autobot friends and ran towards him causing the ground to shake under the human's feet, as Bee reached out with his large mechanical hands, reaching for him.

"Bumblebee!"

_"Sam...my-friend!"_ Bumblebee's broken voice boomed across the suddenly silent room as the bot reached the young man and dove for him. Sam knew that bumblebee wasn't trying to hurt or scare him, but in that instant all he saw was thirty tons of heavy yellow metal heading right for him. So he reacted like anyone about to be crushed.

He let out a loud almost girly scream a second or so before he was plucked off of the floor by a large blue hand and twisted his head around and met the eerie glowing blue optics of Optimus. "Hello Sam. Did you have a safe trip?" Optimus's soft voice rumbled in the human's ear. Sam blinked at the bot and grinned.

"Hey Optimus...uh yeah, the trip was nice. It wasn't the same without Bee though."

Optimus nodded his head in understanding and was about to say something else, maybe ask the young man how his family was doing when Bee's annoyed voice stopped him. _"Please-remove...your foot, from my-head." _Optimus looked down as Sam sort of jerked in his grasp and strained to peek over the edge of his hand at Bee, who was laying on his stomach on the floor with Optimus's heavy foot on top of the side of his head.

"Oh. Sorry Bee." Optimus said absent mindedly as he removed his foot from bee's head and took a small step back and bent at the waist and set Sam down just in time for Bee to snatch the young man up and start rubbing his metal cheek against Sam's as he broke down crying.

_"Missed Sam! Missed Sam-so much!"_ Sam laughed and pushed at Bee's cheek in an effort to get him to stop rubbing him while shouting,

"Bee, stop! Enough! Ow! My face feels like it's being rubbed against a cheese grater! Bee!"

_"Missed Sam!"_

"I missed you too big guy, now _please_ stop trying to rub the side of my face off!" Sam laughed as Bee stopped rubbing on him and used his thumb to ruffle Sam's hair then reluctantly put the young man down on the floor as Ironhide, Sideswipe and several others walked over to greet their human friend.

"Sam! What's up?" Ironhide asked as he reached down and pulled the human against his leg so that he could get a hug from him. Sam hugged him as Ironhide gently patted his back with his finger tips before letting him go.

"Not much. I finally got a vacation from school so I thought I'd drop in and see what you guys were up too." Ironhide smiled at him and let Sideswipe and Ratchet covet the young man before he realized that something was missing and looked around while the others exchanged greetings then asked curiously.

"Sam, where is Kaela?" Kaela was the nickname that the autobot had given to Mikaela, Sam's long time girlfriend and almost constant companion. Sam visibly flinched as his smile faltered a little bit, yet stayed firmly in place.

Optimus and the other bots noticed the sudden sadness in the young man's smile and felt a pang of regret for asking about his girlfriend when he was obviously hurting for some reason. "Kaela decided that she didn't want to be my girlfriend anymore. So she left town and for all I know I'll never see her again..." Sam said as his shoulders slumped a little bit. "It's a pity since I was finally going to ask her to marry me." Sam said as he pulled a small box out of his jeans pocket and held it up for them to see.

"I saved up for over a year to get her the perfect ring. And now I can't even give it to her." Bee made a distressed sound and rubbed the tip of his index finger along Sam's cheek in an attempt to cheer him up as Sam got quiet for a second or so before saying. "Oh well. Easy come, easy go. Now I didn't drive all this way to mope around. I came to see you guys and catch up-"

"Sam-" Optimus said in a sad tone.

"Who needs girls anyways-" Sam continued to ramble as he gently pushed Bee's finger away from him. He hadn't come over a thousand miles to sit around and cry about his loss. He'd come to see his friends and hope that they could lessen the hurt he felt by distracting him with their presence.

"Sam-" Optimus said the man's name a little louder, his voice taking on the you-will-not-ignore-me-when-I-speak-to-you tone that finally managed to stop Sam's ramblings. The young man looked up at Optimus, his expression bewildered.

He could count on his hands the number of times that Optimus had used_ that_ tone with him. It had just happened _once_. And they had been under heavy Decepticon fire and Optimus had been worried that Sam might get hit.

He'd told the young man-err, teen that once he had an opening in the enemy ranks, he wanted Sam to run like hell and find somewhere high to hide. He then went on to explain that the teen should stay clear of glass windows, and iffy looking structures.

Sam had done as Optimus told him too and had wound up twenty or more feet above ground in a tree that he'd been forced to share with a few of terrified cats. He figured that he'd survive a fall from a tree, but he might not survive being shot, or crushed by the fighting, thrashing, mecha's running rampant all over the city block.

Sam felt a large index finger rub against the top of his head, jolting him from his thoughts as he tipped his head back to look at Optimus who was on one knee in front of him, the look on his face slightly pained and understanding at the same time. "Don't try to hide your hurt, Sam. We may not be able to understand what it's like to lose a mate, but we can grieve with you."


	2. Chapter 2

_Sam felt a large index finger rub against the top of his head, jolting him from his thoughts as he tipped his head back to look at Optimus who was on one knee in front of him, the look on his face slightly pained and understanding at the same time. "Don't try to hide your hurt, Sam. We may not be able to understand what it's like to lose a mate, but we can grieve with you." _

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Optimus stood in the hanger door way watching Sam and Bumblebee visit and felt a slight smile curving his lips. The two were acting like brothers who had been seperated for a while. They talked and joked and from time to time occasionally gave each other a playful push on the shoulder.

They seemed to be enjoying their visit with one another despite the sadness weighing on Sam's heart. But the hour was growing late and soon Sam would have to leave for the night. And even though Optimus felt the need to shoo the human out of his hanger, he was _loath_ to do so. Especially since he knew it would upset both Sam and Bumblebee to be seperated again.

Even if it was just for a few hours so that the human could rest.

He heard the sound of Sam laughing at something Bee had said and grinned as Ratchet came walking up behind him and watched the two for a moment before asking, "Are you going to ask Sam to leave so that he can rest?"

Optimus turned his head to look at the medic bot and slowly shook his head no. "If Sam wants to stay then he is welcome too." Ratchet studied his leader for a moment before saying slyly.

"You don't want Sam to leave either."

Optimus didn't say anything. Really what could he say? Of course he didn't want Sam to leave. The human was their friend, and despite the fact that they were now working for the government and couldn't be as close to Sam as they had once been he couldn't help but worry about the young man. After all, working with them to save the planet had made him a walking target and Optimus had a deeply rooted fear that one day soon the Decepticons were going to go after Sam with guns a blazing.

And Optimus wasn't sure if they would be able to reach him once that happened.

The human government would write Sam off as just another casualty. And Optimus would die a little inside for failing to protect his fragile little friend.

Bumblebee looked towards the hanger and noticed Optimus standing there and wondered for a moment if something was wrong before his leader gave him an encouraging smile then turned and walked back inside. Bee blinked at the peculiar action as Sam bit back another yawn.

_"You look like-you need-to crash, Sam."_ Bee said.

Sam blinked at him and chuckled. "Do I? Funny I don't feel that tired."

_"You-should-rest." _

"I will. I just don't want to leave." Sam said after a second or so as he sighed and flopped over side ways so that he was partially laying against Bee's leg.

_"Then-stay. You can-crash-in my bed."_ Bee suggested as he rubbed his index finger over the top of Sam's head.

Sam made a humming sound and leaned into his leg a little more before asking, "Your not secretly planning to squish me like a little bug or something are you?" Bee made a scoffing sound.

_"No."_

"You are such a friggin liar, Bee-" Sam said in an amused tone before saying, "Whatever. It could be like a sleep over or something. Okay I'm game, just don't forget where I am and crush me."

Bee clapped his metal hands together excitedly. _"O-kay!" _

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Starscream stood on the rooftop of the building across the street from the Autobot base with the new weapon that had been created, in his hands. He looked down at the cozy little scene between his target and the yellow Autobot and curled his lips back from his teeth in a sneer.

Such a touching scene between a bot and his boy.

It made him want to wretch.

But that would have to come later. Right now he had a job to do and he had to do it without being caught. Lucky for him, he was a crack shot and wouldn't be found out easily. By the time the human went down-Starscream would be miles away.

He settled himself into a croutching position and waited patiently for an opening. Five minutes later he pulled the trigger...

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Sam was walking behind Bee towards the hanger, listening to his friend ramble on and on like an excited little kid. Apparently this was the first human sleep over experience he'd ever been a part of so natrually he was phyched.

Sam chuckled as Bee said something about making smores with a flame thrower and was about to ask him if that was wise. It certainly didn't sound safe but he caught sight out of something strange out of the corner of his eye and stopped walking and turned to see what it was.

It looked like a bluish white firecracker flying through the air. If not for the fact that it was heading for him and Bee he might have thought it was harmless. But it was heading for him and Bee, and he surmised that he only had a second or so to react.

He turned and looked at Bee, his heart slamming against his chest in alarm as he opened his mouth to call out a warning and a second later-

He couldn't see, hear, speak, or breath.

All he could do was feel as the bluish white light hit him dead center in the chest.


	3. Chapter 3

Optimus was in the middle of recharging when he and the other Autobots heard a loud piercing panicked, sounding, grinding scream from outside and automatically came back online just in time to see Sideswipe, Hot Shot, Ironhide, Ratchet and several others running for the hanger door with their weapons drawn.

_What the hell?_ Optimus wondered as he pushed himself upright and pulled at the wires and cables attached to the back of his neck and headed for the hanger door and blincked at the chaotic scene before him.

Bumblebee was on his knees on the ground, Sam's limp, lifeless body cradled in one of his hands. And he was screaming-_hysterically _as Ratchet tried to take Sam away from him only to be pushed away as Hot Shot and Sideswipe tried to get the bot to hand the human over to ratchet while Ironhide was scanning the roof tops of the buildings surrounding their base with a furious/suspicious look on his face as Optimus reached the group and blinked away the dazed expression he'd had only moments before as the full severity of the situation hit him.

Sam was laying limply in Bumblebee's hand. His eyes wide open and staring blankly, his lips stained a deep scarlet red like the front of his shirt. He wasn't moving. He didn't even seem to be breathing.

And Bee-Bee was reacting abnormally out of shock and fear. Optimus couldn't blame the younger bot. If he had been half as close to the boy as Bee was, he'd probably be on his knees screaming too. He stared down at the human with a pained look on his face as his spark started to _burn_ red hot in his chest.

"Ratchet! Take Sam from Bee and do something. Hot Shot, Sideswipe, hold Bee down so that Ratchet can do his job!" Optimus snapped angrily as he opened the channels of communication between himself and the other Autobots and could hear Bee's panicked thoughts as Ratchet finally managed to take the human from the hysterical bot.

_Sam, don't go! Sam stay with me! Sam please! _

Optimus watched Ratchet scan Sam and put his hand over the man's chest as he cataloged Sam's injuries mentally. Optimus caught Ratchet's faint thoughts and tightly fisted his hands before growling at Ironhide.

"What happened?"

Ironhide didn't look at him as he slowly put his weapon away and looked down at Sam with an unreadable expression on his face. Optimus heard the bot's thoughts. _Blaster shot. Dead center of the chest. Sam's gone..._ Followed by Ratchet's mind rapidly going over several different things while he tried to repair the damage to Sam's organs and tissues before swearing loudly in his mind.

_Slaggin useless pieces of tech! Not helping- Sam was dead before he even hit the ground. _Optimus shut out the rest if there was any and mentally snarled. The Decepticons. They were responsible for this. Humans didn't have the advanced technologies to create a laser gun.

The Decepticons were the only ones who would dare. And they would _pay_ dearly for it.

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I guess that's it for this chapter. I'll make the next one longer. It's just a little hard to think like the Autobots. Grief is a difficult thing to write about.

So just hang in there and I'll make it an interesting read.

Uh...this is actually my second transformers fic so I'm a little out of my element. Constructive criticism's welcome.

And I guess that's it. Bye for now.


	4. Chapter 4

Starscream was greeted by Shockwave the second he returned to the base. "Did it work? Did my new invention do it's job?" Shockwave asked almost excitedly. Starscream looked at the Decepicon and shrugged his shoulders.

He didn't know if the damndable thing had worked.

Shockwave had _never_ filled him in on what it was supposed to do to the target. But if the target was intended to die, then yes, the invention had worked. In all probability the Witwicky boy was probably dead since he'd taken a direct hit to the chest.

"What exactly was the weapon supposed to do?" Starscream asked curiously. Shockwave scowled at him and growled.

"Just tell me if it worked."

"I will, if you will tell me what it was supposed to do."

The two glared at each other for a moment before Shockwave snarled at him. "Fine. The weapon is meant to cause physical transformations by breaking down tissue and organs and reshaping it into something else."

Starscream blinked at him. _What the hell was the mad bot talking about? _"Explain what you mean in greater detail. What exactly do you mean by breaking down tissue and reshaping it?"

Shockwave sighed in irritation and rolled his optics. "Sam is a human-" Starscream gave him a duh look but held his tongue and nodded his head. "Well, if he was hit by the beam then his body is currently undergoing a physical transformation that can either turn him into a _monkey_, or another _person_ altogether."

"And the point of this would be?"

"Well for starters, it gets rid of the boy since the agony of the transformation will cause him considerable damage. He'll be lucky to be sane once it's over. Then there is the fact that he will no longer _remember_ who he is or who the Autobots are. And then there is the fact that the Autobots will be _distracted_ by the fact that their friend is now even more weak than he was before, thus making him an easier target to be used against them."

"So basically you made this weapon to drive them crazy..." Like Starscream even had to ask, the freakishly happy look on Shockwaves face spoke volumes. "Well if that is the case, your weapon is a failure. The human is dead." Starscream said as he tossed the gun to Shockwave and stepped around him and started walking. He had to report to Megatron so that he could plan for the Autobot's retaliation.

"Y-Y-You have no vision do you Starscream-" Shockwave yelled after him before yelling, "I made the weapon to transform humans into mini bots to do our bidding!" Starscream ignored him, though he had to admit that if the weapon had worked, it would have been damn interesting to see the Autobots fighting their human friend.

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Ratchet had taken the time to carefully lay out Sam's body in an area at the back of the hanger, after cleaning the blood from the man's face and laid a plain white sheet over the small body so that only Sam's face could be seen.

Sideswipe had contacted William Lennoxx, the Army Lt. Colonel who had been put on Optimus's team to back him and the other Autobots up, in combat. Optimus had asked Sideswipe to ask the man to come to the hanger right away, that there was something impoortant that they needed his help with.

True to his nature the Colonel's motorcycle pulled into the hanger twenty minutes after Sideswipe had called him. He jerked off his helmet and climbed off of his bike as Optimus came walking up.

"William..."

"What happened? Sideswipe said that you guys were attacked earlier and that you needed help-" The Colonel said in an anxious tone.

Optimus was quiet for a moment, trying to think of what he could say. William had had a deep fondness for Sam ever since the first time he had helped the Autobots and had often gone to visit Sam and his family on his days off of work. Opimus surmised that it was because Sam had reminded him of the younger brother William had lost to a drunk driver over nine years ago, but never spoke of his assumption.

For some reason it seemed _cruel_ to have called the man to the hanger just to ask him to help them contact Sam's family and give him a proper funeral. "William...someone was killed in the attack-" Optimus said awkwardly, not knowing how else to tell the man about Sam.

William gave him a wide eyed horrified look before blanking his expression and snarling a _wicked_ string of oaths that in Optimus's opinion would make Megatron spark and sputter in shame. "Who was it?" William demanded as he blinked back tears.

Optimus was quiet and William made an irritated sound in the back of his throat and took off running across the floor yelling out the various names of the Autobots.


	5. Chapter 5

William's eyes were red rimmed from the hour in a half he'd sat beside Sam's body crying.

Optimus and the other Autobots had hung back and let him grieve for a while, then when he couldn't seem to cry anymore the man had gotten to his feet and dusted himself off and faced his mecha freinds with the kind of icy resolve that often sent his enemies running for cover.

"We need to contact Sam's family-" Optimus nodded his head and stayed silent.

"We need to get a c-coffin-" William seemed to stutter over the word, a pained look crossing his face as he did so before he pulled himself together again and said, "We need to...take Sam's body to his parents... But before we do that we need to _clean_ Sam up. We can't deliver him to his family covered in blood. His wound has to be hidden too. I-I-It'll just _upset_ his momma and his dad to see-"

"We understand William. We'll do everything we can to help."

William gave Optimus a sort of dazed look and nodded his head and started to list the things that they would need to do as he pulled his cell phone out of his pants pocket and flipped it open. Ironhide was about to ask who William was calling when the man stuttered. "S-Sam may h-have been a civilian. B-But he saved the world twice. I-I'm going to contact the president...s-s-so that S-Sam will b-be given a military funeral."

Optimus smiled a little bit despite himself and thought that Sam would have liked to have the funeral of a hero. The giant mecha thought a military funeral was a fitting way to send their human friend off. "William, take Ratchet, Sideswipe, Hot Shot and Bee with you to get the coffin. Bee was Sam's guardian and friend long before we came to earth. He has the right to pick Sam's coffin. The rest of you will be going with him for moral support." Optimus said in a gentle coaxing tone.

William nodded his head after a second or so and all but ran out of the hanger, no doubt he found this grim task too painful to stand in the room with Sam's corpse. It was probably very disturbing to the human.

"What will you do while we are away Optimus?" Hot Shot asked curiously as Ironhide helped Bee up from where he had collapsed earlier and half carried half dragged the bot outside with him while the others filed out of the hanger ahead of them after William.

"I wish to privately say goodbye to Sam." Optimus said and recieved a hand squeeze on his shoulder to show that Hot Shot understood before he left. Optimus sat down next to the place where Sam's body had been laid out and waited until he was sure everyone was gone and he was totally alone before saying.

"I'm so sorry Sam. I had just been thinking about a situation like this occurring when you were taken from us. I had hoped that this day would _never_ come. I had _hoped_ that you would live your life for many more years before you perished..." Optimus blinked his optics and looked down at Sam.

_In times of war, casulties abound-_

Optimus closed his optics and bowed his head as his old mentor's voice echoed with in his memory. It was the first lesson that Optimus had learned before taking his place as the leader of the Autobots. The second lesson had been just as painful.

_You can't save everyone-_

He knew that. Still, he _hated_ that this had happened. He _hated_ knowing that if it wasn't for him and the other Autobots- If it wasn't for the Decepticons, and their damndable war- Sam would have lived longer.

He might have married and had young and died an old man. And it hurt to know that those things had been stolen from Sam. All because they- the Decepticons and Autobots- had crashed on Earth.

Optimus reached out and gently ran the tip of his index finger along the curve of Sam's cheek and couldn't help feeling the overwhelming sense of sorrow and despair that he got from staring at his friend's corpse. He pulled his hand back and put it against his chest as his spark vibrated in his chest. "I never got to properly thank you for everything you've done for us since the time of our arrival on Earth, did I Sam?" He opened the metal plate protecting his spark and reached into his chest and pulled the glittering orb out of his chest and said sadly.

"Back on Cybertron we have an ancient tradition when we lose a dear friend and comrade. Before sending them into one of the twin suns that revolve around my planet, we give a piece of our spark to our fallen ones to show our deep _affection_ and our _respect_ for them. The small piece of ourselves that we give- is a symble of our undying wish to forever be bound to our friends no matter what world they may begin a new existance in. Or what form they may take in their new life-" Optimus looked down at Sam again and held his spark over the human's chest.

"You saved me from making the journey alone, and brought me back from the abyss. For this I am grateful beyond words. Which is why I offer a part of my spark to you, though you can no longer hear me. I wish you to know that no matter where your journey takes you from here- You will always be an important part of me." Optimus said softly as he focused his spark and sent a small piece into Sam's body...

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Sam felt hot. His body hurt, and his lungs burned as his heart beat, slowly pushing blood and oxygen through his veins. What had happened? He wondered vaiguely as he felt something white hot burn it's way through his chest sending a searing agony shooting through his body.

He wanted to cry. He wanted to scream.

But he couldn't seem to pull enough air into his lungs to do either. So instead he let the pain wash over him and drag him down into darkness.

He didn't know how long he lay there, or what was going on around him. He was only a little bit aware of the sounds of distant voices. Of his body being stripped and washed clean of various bodily fluids and redressed with care. He felt a comb being run through his hair until his scalp tingled.

He could feel himself being lifted, causing a new wave of pain to wash over him, then set down on something soft and then he felt nothing at all.


	6. Chapter 6

The coffin that Bee had picked out for Sam was white oak with pale blue satin trim.

And while it was a nice piece, that Bee had felt was tasteful enough for his young friend to spend the rest of eternity in. He had taken it aside after it was purchaced and had carved the symble of alliance into the top of it then had melted down some metal and poured it into the carving to give it a metalic finish.

Then once the metal had cooled and hardened, he had polished the metal symbol until it shone a gleaming silver white then buffed the whole thing. Wood and metal, he wanted it to reflect Sam's lost inner brilliance.

And once he was done he took it and set it in the back of the hanger and waited for William to finish cleaning Sam up and re dressing him before Bee scooped up his late friend's body and gently placed it in the coffin.

He was about to close the lid when he stopped himself. Some foreign part of his mind warning him that he should leave the lid open. Sam might want air to _breathe_. And even though he was logically aware that Sam was gone, and would never draw breath again he couldn't help not wanting to shut Sam in the coffin.

He didn't want his friend to feel trapped or lonely.

So he left the lid open and walked off to try and get some rest. William would be staying in the hanger tonight with the rest of the Autobots so that they could load up first thing in the morning and hit the road. Delivering Sam's body to his parents would take them twelve hours. And Optimus had told all of the Autobots that as Sam's friends they would each be going to face his family since they _all_ bore the blame for the young man's demise.

Bee wished he could face Sam's parents without knowing what they would think of him for failing to protect their only son.

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The hanger was silent with the exception of William's rumbling snore as he lay on Ironhides berth twitching, an empty bootle of Vodka hanging precariously from his limp fingers. The Autobots and Will had stayed up most of the night exchanging stories about Sam in rememberance of the young man's life.

After a few hours they all ran out of stories, Will passed out after drinking three whole bottles of alcohol and was taken by Hot Shot and placed on Ironhides berth so that he could sleep while the Autobots decided to _try_ and get some rest before they had to make thier trip to Sam's parents home.

Everyone was powered down and unaware of what was happening in the coffin.

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_He opened his eyes slightly and blinked at the pale blue above his head. _

_Had he fallen asleep outside again? He wondered as he slowly pushed himself upright and brought his legs up against his chest for a second as his stomach cramped viciously. His body shook slightly and he felt short of breath and sat still for a moment. Until he caught his breath. _

_After a moment or so he let out a shakey sigh and looked around. __He wasn't outside like he had originally thought. He was in a building. A large, concrete building with cars, jet planes, computers and various other things. _

_He frowned a little bit and wondered how he had ended up in such a place. He couldn't recall walking here. Had he been brought here by someone? _

_He couldn't remember. _

_Why couldn't he remember? He wondered in a daze as he lifted a hand and ran it through his sweat damp mid back legnth hair and paused with his fingers tangled in the silken strands and blinked. Damp? Mid back length hair? When had his hair gotten so long? Wasn't it normal for him to keep it cut short? He examined the strands tangled around his fingers and frowned again. _

_It not only wet but it was longer, and it looked darker too. The soft brownish blond strands were laced with jet black. What the hell? He toyed with the tip of a strand and wrinkled his nose in distaste when it curled around his finger. _

_Ew. Curls. _

_How freakishly annoying. He'd have to cut his hair as soon as he could to get rid of the extra legnth. He untangled his fingers then just for fun kind of patted himself down. Call him crazy but when a guy woke up with no memory and super long hair that curled, then either someone was messing with him, or something **huge** and life altering was up. _

_He started with the basics, his arms and legs first and couldn't help noticing that they were thinner...was that even the right word? No wait, not thinner per say, but more slender. Less muscular and defined. He rolled up his pants leg a little bit and ran one of his hands along his calf._

_His skin felt softer under his finger tips, almost like someone had rubbed him down with baby oil or something. The fine hairs that had once been on his arms and legs were gone-_

_He frowned again not understanding what was going on as he started to pat his chest and stopped when he felt a peculiar soreness. His chest felt odd. Instead of being what he was sure it should be. His chest had an entirely different feel to it. _

_There were small soft mounds attached to his chest. He patted the area a few more times, a shocked/panicked expression crossing his face. Holy shit he had breasts! On impulse he toyed with them a little bit, testing to see if they were really there or if someone was really screwing with him and before making his final descision on the matter slipped one of his hands between his legs to feel for his dick and blanched when he felt nothing there. _

_A second later, he fainted._

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Just a brief explination about what's going on with Sam.

Okay Shockwave explained in the previous chapter what his weapon was created to do. Sam at this point in time is being broken down and recreated as a new being so his awareness of 'himself' is a little...iffy.

At this point, he knows that he's a guy or at the very least that he _should_ be a guy. So his reaction is totally understandable. But in the next few chapters he'll lose all sense of _himself_ and become a whole new person.

Everything that makes him Sam will be lost.

And that is where the fun will begin.

later


	7. Chapter 7

Awarness flickered in the back of his mind.

On then off, repeatedly like someone flipping a switch in his head. His head throbbed, his body ached, and he was starting to feel hot and sweaty and _nauseous_. His skin tingled and itched, his chest hurt, his pelvic bone felt like it was broken. Yet he couldn't recall doing anything to damage it in such a way.

He tried swallowing, but his mouth felt like it was stuffed with cotton. Water. He needed water. He pushed himself upright and looked around the hanger, wondering if there was anywhere close by where he could get some water.

He slowly eased his feet to the cold concrete floor and tested to see if his legs would support his weight and sighed in relief when he didn't collapse. He walked a step or so from the thing he'd been laying on and looked around again, looking for any signs of a restroom or water fountain and almost started crying when he couldn't find one.

He closed his eyes and tried to think. The hanger felt a little familiar to him, though he couldn't be sure that it was the same place he was thinking of. And if it was the same place then there was a door-

He did a quick sweep of the large building and found what he was looking for about twenty or so feet away. He made nearly inaudible sound and half walked half staggered towards the door knowing that somewhere beyond it was the water he was so deasperately seeking...

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Several hours later-

Bee was the first one to come online and decide that four hours of being offline and having nightmares, was enough for him. He disconnected himself from his berth and sat up and did a slow sweep of the hanger, making sure that everyone was still asleep and offline. He didn't want anyone to see how shaken he was by his nightmares as he buried his face in his hands and shuddered for a second before slipping from his resting place and quietly (as quietly as a thirty five thousand pound machine could) krept away from the others.

They still had an hour or two before they would be hitting the road. And as painful as it was for him, Bee wanted to spend some time alone with Sam.

To say some things that he had never really said before. Ya know, to tell the human that he'd really liked being his friend and such.

He walked to the far side of the hanger where Sam's coffin was and started to sit down when he noticed that the coffin lid was pushed completely back and Sam's body was missing. He blinked his optics and rubbed them then blinked again before letting out a_ loud_ high pitch shrieking sound.

Effectively waking everyone in the hanger.

Hot Shot jerked awake so quickly that he fell out of his berth and hit the concrete floor hard enough to pulverise the stone under him as Ratchet, and ironhide and Optimus all jumped up from their berths and hastily disconnected the wires attached to the back of their necks and armed their weapons as Bee started shouting _"Red alert! Red alert! We have red alert!" _

Optimus put his weapon away and made his way over to Bee and put his hand on the smaller bot's shoulder. "Bee. Why are you freaking out? Did you have a nightmare?"

Bee looked at him and shook his head no then reached up and framed Prime's face in his hands and turned his leader's head so that he was looking at the empty coffin. Optimus got a sort of shell shocked look on his face and blinked his optics as the others made their way over to them.

Each of them taking turns looking at the coffin while Ratchet scanned it to make sure that Sam's body hadn't somehow been reduced to particals by the weapon that had killed him. "Ratchet? Was Sam-"

"No." Ratchet replied as he stopped the fifth scan of the coffin abruptly and looked at Optimus who frowned.

"Are you sure that he was dead?"

"Yes. There was no traces of a _pulse_, or _air_ being pulled into his lungs."

"But couldn't that have been just for a minute or so?" Hot Shot asked curiously.

Ratchet turned his head and glared at the younger bot then growled, "His insides were shredded. There was _no_ mistake."

"But...human's aren't like us. They can't be revived! They don't have sparks!" Ironhide said and Optimus stiffened a bit where he stood and tried to think. Could the energy from the piece of his spark that he had given to Sam somehow have brought the boy back to life?

No. No, that wasn't possible. It was just wishful thinking on his part. _Sparks_ and _humans_ were incompatible.

And though a human could _share_ a small piece of a spark given by a transformer, it was _impossible_ for a deceased human to be resurrected by the energy contained in a spark fragment. Optimus closed his optics and opened a path of communication to his mind.

The surest way to know if Sam had somehow been brought back to life by his spark fragment was to try deep listening and see if he could catch some small, faint thought or feeling from Sam's mind. It took a second, maybe two. But he caught the faint almost phantom sounds of a heart thudding in his ears followed by the overwhelming sense of warmth and discomfort.

_Sam?_ Optimus tried speaking to the boy as shock filled his being._ Sam? Can you hear me?_ Optimus tried to get a response from the human and caught only the vaigue delirous thought.

_Hear? Hear who? Hot... Hurts to move. To breathe-_ Then he heard nothing.


	8. Chapter 8

"Optimus? Optimus what are you doing?" Ironhide asked as he looked over his leader's shoulder while Will messed with the computer and tried to pull up the security footage of the hanger during the time that they had all been asleep.

Optimus glanced at him out of the corner of his eye, but said nothing. Across the way Sideswipe was anxiously looking around his berth as he pulled his legs up against his chest and said, "Psst! Psst! Ironhide!" Ironhide stopped trying to get anything out of their leader and looked at the younger bot.

"What is is Sideswipe?" Ironhide asked in an irritated tone. If the younger bot said so much as one thing about humans and their uncanny ability to become zombies, the older bot was going to use him for target practice.

"You should get up high just in case Sam's a zombie-" There was a gun discharge and a loud yelp followed by a crashing sound and all eyes suddenly turned to Bee who snarled at Sideswipe as he put his gun away.

_"Sam isn't- A monster- Asshole." _

Optimus sighed and rubbed the metal plate over his right optic. "All of you calm down and be quiet. Your giving me a headache." He said as the wires attached to the nerves behind his optics started to ache painfully.

It was puzzling to him to be feeling this way since he was incapible of feeling most types of _pain_ and _discomfort_. But he understood that the headache and other feelings of pain weren't his own. He was feeling what Sam was feeling through the bond he'd created with his spark.

And the longer he stood there the more he worried about what Sam was feeling. Optimus could feel his body starting to overheat, the nerves in his leg joints felt like they were on fire. Like his legs were being removed from his torso with a spoon or something.

It was _horrible_.

It was _agonizing_. Even for him.

He could only imagine what the sensations must feel like for Sam. He was about to ask Ratchet to take a look at him when Will finally found something. If the string of muttered oaths was anything to go by. "What have you found Will?" Optimus asked as he moved closer to the area where Will was so that he could see what his friend was seeing.

Will turned around in his seat and looked at Optimus with a dazed look on his face and pointed to the large TV screen next to him. Optimus looked at the screen and blinked unsure of what exactly he was seeing. The image was of Sam waking up then pushing himself upright in his coffin.

Or at least Optimus_ thought_ it was Sam.

The facial features, hair, and build of the body sitting up in the coffin _was_ similar to Sam's. Similar. But not _exactly_ like Sam's. The features were more delicate, more feminine. The body type of the one in the video image was slender, with a dancers build. The hair was long and dark, the soft tan skin was slowly turning a pale ivory color and the person seemed very _disoriented_.

The movements were sluggish, incoherent. He watched the figure slowly start to examin itself as if puzzled by it's own appearance. It patted down it's arms and legs, then studied a thick strand of hair and then patted it's torso then in a slightly panicked move-

Optimus blinked as the slender fingered hand disappeared between the fingures legs a second or so before said figure flopped over side ways and lay still. Will fast forwarded the video a little bit then pressed play and stared wide yed at the screen as the figure stirred, awoke, and then sat up again before awkwardly climbing out of the coffin and stumbling out of the frame.

Optimus turned his head and looked at the coffin. Then at the fire exit across the way from it and wondered if the person from the video had taken the exit. And if so, were they still somewhere close by?


	9. Chapter 9

She opened her eyes the second she felt herself being laid on something icy cold. The feeling of both relief and pain jarring her to consciousness just enough for wretch a strangled sounding scream from her throat as she tried to get up and away from the icy cold sensation. But she didn't get far, the second she came up several pairs of hands grabbed her arms, her shoulders, her ankles and forced her back down.

She thrashed around as best she could in an effort to escape. Her heart slamming against her ribs in fear.

Where was she? Who were the people holding her down?

She was hyperventilating. Her eyes flickering from one masked face to another in panic as her lungs burned for air. Was she dying? The thought had crossed her mind a time or two earlier when she had felt her insides burning like fire. But her insides no longer hurt-

She jerked in a particular direction and screamed again, this time because there was a searing pain in her abdomen. She frowned for a second and blinked back tears. Had that feeling been there before? She hadn't noticed it until she had jerked so maybe the pain that she was in was only noticable when she moved.

She stilled for a second and lay on what felt like a narrow bed and was slightly startled when the masked face of a woman appeared in her sight and the woman started talking to her and stroking her hair while she was secured to the bed by thick leather cuffs and several people started putting bags of ice covered with towels, around her.

Her eyes widened a little bit in horror. What the fuck were they doing? She tried jerking again but couldn't move her body except to rock herself a little bit from side to side. She looked up at the woman again and tried to focus on her words when she felt something in the back of her mind.

Another presence sharing her experiences. She tried to focus on it, but it turned her away and tried to help her focus on the woman and what she was saying. _"Shh, hush sweetie. I know it's cold and not the least bit comfortable but we have to get your fever down."_

The presence seemed to tamp down on it's own worry and fear and for a moment she got the impression that it was reaching for her, she tried reaching for it too. She couldn't help herself, it just seemed to radiate warmth and familiarity and strength. And she was just so weak and scared.

_"Calm yourself- Your heart is beating too fast."_ The presence spoke gently, it's tone pained.

_I'm scared!_ She cried quietly and felt the presence nod his head.

_"I know. But we are looking for you. So please hold on just a little longer-" _

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The Autobots had been in the middle of their search when Optimus had changed back to his robot form and started rolling around screaming as if someone had taken a blow torch to the nerves in his metal frame.

It had taken Ratchet, Sideswipe and Ironhide almost an hour to get the bigger bot back to the hanger and at least another hour before Ratchet had found out about the spark bond that Optimus had unwittingly created with Sam's 'corpse'.

Which meant that whatever the human was feeling; Optimus was feeling as well.

And Sam must currently be in_ excrutiating_ agony for it to affect Optimus in such a way. Ratchet and Ironhide laid their leader out on one of the unused medical berths and did several different analysis of his internal systems to make sure that Optimus wasn't in any immediate danger before they relaxed even a little bit.

Meanwhile- Hot Shot was charged with the grim task of calling off the search for Sam. At least until Ratchet was sure that Optimus was well enough to help them look. God knew that the bot would have a better chance of finding the human thanks to the spark bond.

But he knew that the younger bot would have some difficulty persuading Bee and Will to call of the search since they were the ones who had been closest to Sam. Making them stop looking for the boy would be something akin to torture for the two.

They would simply stop functioning. Perhaps even fight the rest of them so that they could keep looking. But until Optimus was on his feet again, Ratchet knew it was pointless. It would do nothing but get thier hopes up and hurt them more when they came up empty handed.

The med bot looked at Optimus and frowned, the bot was laying eerily still, his systems were no longer spiking dangerously, he wasn't even screaming anymore. He was just laying there with his hands folded over his torso, his optics were open and staring blankly at the hanger ceiling. "Optimus?"

The bigger bot lay there for all of two second before his optics flickered a little bit and he turned his head slightly to look at him. "Ratchet?" Optimus's voice had a slightly scratchy and weak sound to it.

Probably from the screaming that he'd done earlier. Ratchet figured as he walked over to the other bot and did a quick scan of his vocals to make sure that they weren't damaged before asking Optimus how he felt. He was a little surprised by the answer.

"I'm cold."

"You're incapable of feeling warmth or cold." Ratchet pointed out in a puzzled tone.

"Logically I'm aware of that... But I _feel_ cold."

"What else do you feel?" Ratchet asked curiously, wondering just how deep the spark bond went.

"Pain. Such horrible agonizing pain-" Optimus said as he rubbed the metal plate over his stomach as if it hurt him or something. Ratchet opened his mouth to say ask something else when Optimus said, "It reminds me of the pain I felt when Megatron ripped out and crushed my spark."


	10. Chapter 10

The pain didn't subside for three days.

And in that time Ratchet had established that Optimus and Sam were so _deeply_ connected that the Prime was able to feel whatever Sam did. Which made the fact that the human was no longer in their possession more than a little bit troubling to the rest of the Autobots once Ratchet had explained things to them.

On one hand the Autobots and Will were ecstatic that Sam was alive. And on the other they had been horrified to know that their leader's life was tied to the fate of such a fragile lifeform.

But by the time the three days had passed, and Optimus was back on his feet again- When asked if he knew where Sam was...the large bot could only shake his head. He'd lost contact with Sam sometime during the second day and had yet to be able to really _feel_ him again. Which meant that something had happened to cut off their connection a bit.

All he could say for sure was that Sam was still alive. And for the time being, that would simply have to be enough.

They started the search again. Beginning in the area where Prime had collapsed and started screaming, feeling that it was perhaps the best place to start. They had hoped to find some trace or clue. But all Optimus did was sit down on the bank of a drainage pipe, close to the murky water and just stare off into space for about an hour or so.

His actions were puzzling to them until finally at the end of the hour Optimus reatched into the water and fished out what looked like a torn pants leg and a black leather dress shoe that Will recognized as a part of the outfit that Sam had been put in when they had thought him dead.

After that nowhere they looked yielded any clues. It was as if Sam had simply fallen off the edge of the Earth...

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Three years later-

She was late for work again. It couldn't really be helped this time since she had stayed up all night last night working on a new design for her latest pet project. She'd lost track of time at about six in the morning and hadn't been able to close her eyes until she went out for her nightly walk by the old abandoned military hanger.

The place that she had been dreaming about ever since she woke up in the hospital three years ago with no memory of who she was or how she had gotten there. She'd talked to the police, to her doctors. She'd gone out for walks and tried to remember what events had led up to her memory loss/trip to the hospital and kept coming up empty.

It was _frustrating_.

But then there wasn't much about her current situation that wasn't frustrating to her.

After her three month long stay at the local hospital, she'd had a number of questions asked. By the police, the doctors. She had contacted several branches of governement officals to see if she was a U.S citizen. Had her picture taken and shown on the news to see if anyone in the wide world knew who she was.

No one ever contacted her.

It was as if she had never existed at all.

Finally after two years she was given a new name, Saya Samantha Allen Erickson. She still felt odd about answering to it, but a name was better than no name. She had been given a job as a secretary in a law firm. Not bad for someone without a past. And started her new life.

And while it was good to keep herself busy, she still felt that she was missing something big. _Huge_ even.

But for now she lived her life as best she could. And right now she needed to find her other shoe and get to work before her boss decided to hand her over to his crazy matchmaking wife _again. _She was fairly certain that she didn't want to know just who the lunitic woman had decided to try and set her up with this time.

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Optimus came online earlier than he had expected too with a mixed feeling of frustration and dread as he caught the thought, _Where the hell is that damn shoe?_ And automatically lifted one of his feet so that it was sticking straight up in the air, and checked to make sure that the thought wasn't his own. He was a bit relieved to notice that his feet had shoes built into them and sent Sam the slightest feeling of amusement.

_Ha! Not my problem. _He thought as he put his leg down and then lay there waiting for the next thought to cross his mind. He wasn't disappointed since he could literally feel Sam (wherever he was) freeze up and look over his shoulder as if he were expecting someone to be standing behind him or something.

Sam's mind quieted for a moment or two then the human all but mentally growled in frustration._ Bastard. Stop being so smug and help me find my shoe. _

Sam talked to him like he was a strange or distant part of his mind or something. Nothing at all like the familiar boughts of conversation they'd had before Prime had lost contact with him. Even though Sam didn't seem to realize that he was sharing his mind with him anymore, Optimus couldn't find it in his spark to be angry with the human.

After all he had realized three years ago when he had called off the search for him, that there was something very _wrong_ with Sam's mind now. Prime had noticed it as soon as the connection had returned.

He'd felt it in Sam's complete and utter shock. His disbelief and confusion. His fear and helplessness.

He didn't remember _anything _about who he was. He didn't remember who Optimus, Bee, Will or anyone else was. He didn't remember saving the world (3 times). And it was because of all of these things that Optimus had known that it was futile to continue looking for the human.

If Sam couldn't recall who he was or where he was- Then having Optimus show up out of the blue with the rest of the Autobots would only cause more harm than good. However he kept that little bit of information to himself since he didn't want to hurt Bee or Will's feelings since they had been closest to Sam.

So instead he had simply lied and told everyone that Sam was safe (for now) and that the humans were taking care of him and that they would see him again once he was better.

And because of his bond with the human, the others didn't question him. They had simply agreed that stopping the search was fine as long as he kept them updated on Sam's condition via the bond. Prime had only agreed because he knew that he'd have a revolt on his hands if he didn't.

Bee and Will had had that wild look in their optics that simply chilled the larger bots oils in his frame.

_Well-_ Sam's voice snapped in his mind, causing Optimus to smile a little bit under his mask at the impatient thought as he opened his optics. _Are you going to help me find my shoe? _

_Have you looked under the bed?_

_Yes._

_Well, if the shoe isn't there then I don't know where it is. _Optimus thought almost cheerfully. Sam gave him the impression of having his eye twitch.

_One of these days buddy-_ Sam thought warningly._ One of these days, I'm going to visit a liscensed theropist and get rid of you. _

_You'll never do it. You need me to help you find your car keys, shoes, the TV remote and such._


	11. Chapter 11

She was late for work. Not that her boss was that surprised when he met her at the door to the office building with his arms crossed over his chest and a fierce scowl firmly in place. "And what excuse do you have for me this morning?" He asked in a tone that was a complete contradiction of his expression.

"Were you hit by a car? Lightning? Fall from your apartment veranda again? Cross a black cat? Choke on a pickle and have to be rushed to the hospital?" He asked as he looked down at her wrists which were hidden under the sleeves of her icy blue suit jacket. She gave him a dark look. Hoping to stop him from asking any more silly questions before she got embarrassed.

But he just stepped back to let her in the door and kept going.

"Did an airplane crash on the freeway? Was your apartment flooded? Set on fire? Did you go skinny dipping somewhere and have some country bumkin steal your clothes?"

She sighed and dropped her wallet onto the surface of her desk and then turned to look at the man. Harold Morgin was by far the most bizarre lawyer she had ever come across. Or at least she thought he was.

The man was in his mid thirties and acted like he was in his seventies. He never got mad at her for being late or making a mistake.

He got even with her by pranking her.

He treated her like a father would treat his teenage kid whom had just gotten their driver's liscense. He even made her call him 'dad' sometimes. And to make matters even more embarrassing, he gave her a sucker, a pat on the head and twenty dollars _cash_ on the spot for doing so.

He was weird. Like really, really, _really_ weird.

But he had taken a liking to her and given her a job so who was she to complain? He gave her an impatient look and started tapping his foot. Ah, right. She still owed him an answer.

"I couldn't find my shoe." She said lamely, a pale pink flush blooming in her pale cheeks. There she said it! And as lame as the excuse was she was sure that he would laugh his ass off once he managed to wrangle the rest of the story out of her.

"Oh? Poor thing. Where was it?" Harold asked as his lips twitched. She could already see the wheels in his head turning, his imagination running wild.

"In my microwave..." She said in a furious tone. As if the mere thought of her shoe trying to escape being worn by cooking itself pissed her off. Harold blinked his green eyes at her, his expression didn't change. He didn't laugh. Didn't seem to respond to her words at all.

He just snorted and shook his head and asked. "When's your next doctors appointment?" She looked at him puzzled for a moment then thought for a second.

"Thursday. At nine thirty. Why?"

"No real reason. Uh...what are you doing Thursday evening?"

"Drinking some wine and soaking in the tub while I read a nice raunchy book." She said in a hopeful tone. Harold snickered at her and shook his head again.

"Fraid not dolly. My wife has decided to find you a man and is throwing you a huge party full of eligable marriable men." She groaned and sank to the floor in front of her desk and looked pitiful.

"B-But I don't want a man!" She whined as Harold extended his hand to her and waited for her to take it so that he could help her up.

"I know you don't dolly. I don't want to go to the party either, but I hear that there will be an open bar to go with the headach of showing up...well, that and my wife would go mid evil on my ass if I left her alone with all the eye candy. She has a rule about leaving her with things that she can _see_ but not _touch_."

"So? Throw the crazy woman to the eye candy wolves and run like hell! I'm sure that once someone's shirt comes off she'll be adequately distracted." She said as she grasped his hand and let him pull her up as he laughed.

After that little conversation it was time to get to work. Which meant that she spent the first few hours of her time on the clock, stewing about the party that her bosses wife was throwing for her.

She didn't want a boyfriend dammit! She had a very deep and meaningful relationship with her romance novels and personal massager. She didn't need an actual guy to feel needed or fulfilled.

She leaned back in her seat and blew a lock of long dark hair out of her eyes and looked at the clock hanging on her office wall. It was ten past one. She was now on lunch, yet she couldn't seem to gather the energy needed to get up out of her chair and go get something to eat.

It wasn't until that pesky voice in her head spoke up, that she felt some of her energy returning. _Is something wrong? I can feel your dread. _

_It's nothing. Just a little bit of bad news from my boss._

_Oh? What sort of news? _The voice asked in a curious tone.

_My bosses wife has decided that I need to be married and is going out of her way to set me up._


	12. Chapter 12

_My bosses wife has decided that I need to be married and is going out of her way to set me up. _

Optimus remained quiet for a heart beat or two, uncertain of how to respond to Sam's thoughts on the subject of marriage. Hadn't Sam loved the very idea of settling down before? Of having children, and a mate to share his life with.

Finally after a few minutes Optimus managed to ask, _Don't you want to marry?_

Sam sent him a faint feeling of irritation laced with amusement. _I do. But I would much rather choose my future mate myself, than to have them chosen for me by some well meaning busy body. If I let someone else decide my future for me, then what's the point in looking for that special someone? What would be the point of trying to fall in love? _

Optimus fell silent again before asking, _Would it make you feel better if I was there with you? _

Sam must have been puzzled by his question. He didn't seem to know how to respond though Optimus caught the faintest touch of confusion before he asnwered. _That would be nice. Awkward. But nice... How would you manage it? _

_Don't worry about how I'll manage it, you just go about your day and I'll check in on you later. _Optimus thought before severing the mental link between them so that he could plan out how he could find the boy.

He had picked up that he would have until Thursday to find Sam so that he could be there for the boy and help him anyway that he could since he seemed to find his upcoming marriage somewhat _daunting_.

Optimus went about his daily routines the first few days before Thursday.

Every day he power up and got out of his berth, and hunted down Decepticons and beat the hell out of them, then he went back home to the hanger where he spent his down time alternating between letting Bee and Will and some of the others know what was up with Sam.

All while making his plans to go see the boy after picking out a holoform that he felt would best serve his purpose. Then just to make sure that he would be able to recognize Sam once he saw him, he downloaded a military face recognition software program into his holoform.

After all of that was done, he only had a few hours left to kill until it was time to go looking for Sam. He laid down in his berth late Wensday night wondering where Sam was and what the boy was doing.

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Saya hadn't been able to sleep Wensday night.

She was too strung out wondering what her doctor was going to say. Which was why she got up at four a.m. Thurseday morning and dragged herself into the living room and stayed there until it was time to go.

She felt no need to rush since Harold had given her the day off to go to the doctor and rest up and get ready for his wife's party. She showered, got dressed in a comfortable pair of faded to white skinny jeans and a mint green and cream colored sweater. She painted her nails a soft shell pink and put on makeup. A light beige brown eye shadow and a soft pink lip gloss.

She took the time to pull her hair up into a thick pony tail and took a curler to the tips of her already curly hair to add more curl to it, then rummaged around in her jewelry box and found the pearl necklace and earring set that she'd bought on impulse a few months back and put them on. Then looked for her shoes for a few minutes and then grabbed her wallet and her house keys and walked out the door.

She didn't bother taking her car. The hospital where her doctor worked was just two blocks from where she lived.

The walk took her at least thirty minutes, and once she reached her destination she walked in and found herself some place to sit down and started thumbing through one of the many Home and Hearth magazine's that she had found while she waited.

Twenty minutes later her doctor was walking by the waiting room on his way to his office and stopped to collect her. Dr. Adams was a very nice and patient fortyish year old man with dark brown eyes and white hair laced blond hair.

He had been the doctor to treat her when she had been brought in with a high fever and slipped into a coma. He'd also been the one who had taken a special interest in her and helped her try to find out who she was and get a job and find a place to live.

"How have you been doing Saya?" Adams asked as he flipped open her file and looked at it for a second before realizing that he'd grabbed the wrong one. He cringed a little bit and wondered for the millionth time how someone as forgetful as he had managed to become a doctor.

Saya stopped as Doc Adams turned and sort of jogged back to the nurses station and started going through the piles of files and papers sitting on the desk until he made a happy 'Ah-ha!' sound and then jogged back to her flushing a little bit.

"Sorry about that, I had the wrong file." He said looking just a little bit embarrassed. Saya giggled.

"That's alright. I'm used to it-" She said before answering his earlier question. "I've been doing fine. Harold has been keeping me busy. His wife is trying to marry me off to the first available stud she can find."

"Oh my, I heard about that-" Adams said as she looked at him. He gave her a sly smile. "I heard from Harold when he called to invite me to his wife's little gathering tonight."

"I didn't know that you knew my boss."

Adams chuckled. "Of course I know him. Every other week or so he stops by the hospital to entertain the children in the cancer ward."

"I didn't know that Harold did things like that."

"Well, his wife doesn't know either. I suspect he comes here sometimes just to escape her or get out of work." Saya snapped her fingers and looked pissed.

"That jerk! Here he is playing with kiddies and I'm stuck doing paper work-"

"I could kick him in the shins for you dear." Adams offered kindly. Saya looked at him again and grinned evilly.

"Please do."

Adams cackled and put her file under his arm so that he could rub his hands together. "Oh I will. I will."


	13. Chapter 13

The rest of Saya's visit at Doc Adam's office went well.

She was still doing well, her mind was fairly sharp.

Some forgetfulness was to be expected. She could still take care of herself. And nothing so far had changed.

After she left the hospital she got a call from Harold telling her that his wife's party was a formal affair. And that he would be meeting her in town in an hour to help her get a new dress for the party and then to take her to get her hair and nails done.

She thanked him but shot down the hair and nails part. She could take care of her own makeup, hair and nails thank you very much. She had expected Harold to get a little offended about being told no. But as usual he didn't react like he was supposed too.

Making her feel a _little_ badly about telling Doc Adams to kick him for dumping his work on her while he skipped out to play with the kids at the hospital. But only a little. She reached her home just long enough to get her car, before she was out and in the city again.

It took her fifteen minutes more than she had intended (mostly due to traffic) but she reached the mini mall of clothing boutiques where Harold had said he'd be waiting and parked the car in front of a large two story building with a large neon pink sign in front.

She could see Harold standing with his back against the red brick building, just a foot or so from the door. She waved at him when he looked at her car to indicate that she was _there_ before she climbed out and walked up to him. "Hi Harold." She greeted as she stuffed her hands in her jean pockets as she stopped just in front of him.

Harold looked her over and blinked. "Ohhh, what your wearing is so cute... Hold still for a second so I can take a picture and send it to Maddy. She'll be so jealous-"

Says snorted. "As long as it's _your_ eyes that she scratches out, then sure go ahead. Knock yourself out."

Harold dug his cell phone out of his shirt pocket and started to flip it open to take her picture when her words seemed to finally register with him and after a second or so of mental debate, he put his phone away and gave her a dirty look then grasped her wrist and pulled her over to the shop's door and opened it for her.

"What are we looking for color wise?" Saya asked Harold curiously as she walked into the store and looked around warily.

Harold patted down his shirt pocket and then pulled out a folded piece of paper and then unfolded it and started to read off. "Dress must be nice, and classy. Length must be either knee length or ankle legnth. And the colors are anything in white, black, mint green, pale pink, turqouise and silver. Everything else is forbidden. If you screw this up so help me god Harold, I'll..." Harold stopped reading the note and turned it over then grunted before saying. "Run you over in the convertable."

Saya gaped at him for a second. There was no way that Maddy had written that. She may have a mean streak but that was usually _only_ in life or death situations. Harold crumbled the paper up in his hands and put it back into his shirt pocket and looked at her and grinned.

"Well you heard my wife, she'll run over me if we don't do this right so please cooperate."

Saya whimpered as he grabbed her hand and led her over to a dress rack and started to go through it.

Two hours later Saya was standing next to Harold at the register with three different dresses, two purses, five necklace and earring sets, seven pairs of shoes and a tube of soft pink lips stick, anxious to escape the store and go home.

Shopping with Harold had been fun. Her boss had a fantastic eye for color, cut and design. He'd found the most amazing dresses for her to pick from.

One was a slinky form fitting halter top style black ankle legnth dress with silver beading around the collar of the dress.

Another was an off color of mint green that was just a shade or so paler than the color on her shirt. The dress was knee length chiffon with one shoulder strap. The other was a white dress with a scooped neckline and silver trim.

The necklaces and earring that they had found ranged from pearls, to cubic zirconia's, to glittering white topaz and green amethysts set in sterling silver.

The shoes that Harold had picked out, were semi practical in the sense that they weren't stiletto's. The heels were two or three inches high. Three of them were open toed and slinky. And the rest weren't. Some had spaghetti straps, while others simply slipped on.

All in all it was a nice haul, but Saya was worried that she wouldn't have enough to buy them. And when Harold handed his credit card to the cashier when she had been trying to find hers, which was somewhere in her wallet, she felt that things had just gone a little bit too far.

"Harold-"

Her boss made a humming sound. "I don't really need all of this stuff. I could put some of it back." Saya suggested as she reached for some of the items that hadn't been rang up yet and was about to take some of them away when Harold smacked her hand to stop her.


	14. Chapter 14

Once Saya was back at her place she dropped the load of things that Harold had bought her into a chair and hung the dresses on a hook just inside of her doorway and slipped off her shoes and staggered over to her couch and flopped down on it feeling exhausted.

She lay there all of ten minutes when her companion, the voice in her mind asked tentatively. _How was the doctor's visit? Did everything go well? _

Saya might have ignored the voice this once if not for the fact that it sounded so concerned to her. _Doc said that everything was fine. Everything is good. I have refills for my perscriptions and everything else. So there isn't any need for concern. _

The voice was silent for a moment. _That's...good. _Her companion sounded more than a little bit relieved to know that she was fine. But since it was a figment of her overactive imagination she found it's concern a mite odd.

_Yeah. I guess so. _

_What do you mean 'you guess'? Isn't good news worth celebrating? _The voice asked curiously. Saya's lips curved up in a small smile as her eyes drifted closed.

_I suppose it depends on the person. But yeah, good news is worth celebrating. Which is why I'm going to take a very long nap until it's time to get ready for the party tonight. _

_Ah, I see... Tell me is there going to be a dress code for this function you are going to? _

_What an odd question for my own mind to ask me_, Saya thought tiredly.

The voice went silent and Saya felt an odd sense of utter _dismay_ and _shock_. As if she had just been told some deep dark personal secret by a close friend and couldn't quite wrap her mind around it. The feeling was strong enough to cause her to go from exhausted to wide awake in 0.02 seconds then just as abruptly as it started, the feeling vanished. As if it had been ruthlessly cut off before it could grow into a sense of full blown panic.

_You think I'm a figment of your imagination. _It wasn't exactly a question. Merely her companion trying to make sense of her thoughts.

_Well aren't you? _

_No- _Her companion said in a dark almost angry tone. _But you don't have to take my word for it since we'll be meeting later tonight. _Saya was about to respond to the words in her mind when her companion seemed to cut itself off from her. Leaving her with a strange emptiness in the vicinity of her chest.

What had that been about?

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Optimus could count on his hands the number of times he had ever felt so pissed and hurt. The total was three. Three times. And this one made four.

Sam thought he was a figment of his imagination. Optimus supposed that it would be natural for the human to assume this after sustaining a mortal injury and disappearing. After all Optimus had already figured out that Sam no longer remembered his old life.

But Optimus had hoped that by keeping in contact through the spark bond that he would somehow help the boy remember. But it looked like he had been wrong.

Which meant that Optimus was faced with a difficult descision. Should he somehow jog Sam's memories and bring him back into the safety of the Autobots circle? Or should he simply see what sort of life Sam had for himself now and leave him to it?

He sighed and ran his fingers through his dark hair, enjoying the slight scraping sensation of his blunt finger nails dragging across his scalp. He needed to go clothes shopping for an outfit since he doubted that biker chic would be acceptable.

He sighed again and started up the motorcycle that he had built a few months back and peeled out of the abandoned lot that he had stopped off in while talking to Sam and rode towards one of the classier shopping areas so that he could pick up a nice suit so that he could better blend in at the party.


	15. Authors notes

Hello kittens!

I have some grim news to share.

My computer died yesterday so my updating will be much _slower_ due to the fact that I'll be sharing computers with my husband and brother.

So it's not like I'm abandoning anyone or any of my works, It'll just be a while before I can update at _all_ hours of the day and night like I used too.

So please don't totally despair. I did that yesterday and it wasn't fun. I had to have two nerve pills and after that I was useless for the night.

I do however have one thing to say aside from my computer being dead, anyone who wants too can request an update for any story on my list and I will do what I can between the hours of 3 pm-12:30 am to update something for you okay.

Okay then, that's everything. talk at ya'll later.


	16. Chapter 16

Optimus walked into a shop called Elegance and paused just inside the door way to make sure that he was in the right place. He wanted to get a suit so that he could make a good impression on Sam at the party tonight.

And was more than a little _creeped_ out by the displays of jewelry, clothes racks full of dresses and suits. A display against the wall in the far back of the store had shoes on it while another had socks, ladies leggings and gloves.

He made a small distressed sound and then sighed and walked over to one of the nearest clothes racks and studied the suits hanging there. He already knew what sort of suit he wanted. Something cream colored with matching pants and a jacket. He could go with or without a tie.

He reached up and ran his fingers through his hair again and scowled when it occurred to him that he might need a hair cut or something since the dark locks fell a little ways past his shoulders while his bangs fell almost to his chin and were brushed back out of his eyes so that he could see.

It wasn't exactly stylish, nor was it shabby looking. It just wasn't the way one wore their hair at a formal party.

He circled around one clothes rack, checking out the various suit designs and colors when a woman walked up and asked if she could help him.

Optimus gave her an awkward smile, still not used to dealing with humans in his holoform and picked out a slate grey suit and asked if she had it in a different color and size. The woman looked at the suit, then at him with a puzzled expression on her face before taking it from him and checking the current size before determining that he was at least five sizes bigger than the suit in her hands, and that she would need _special_ help to find him what he was looking for.

It took twenty minutes and nine phone calls to some branch stores in the area but finally the woman was able to find him what he asked for in both color and size. She asked him if he would like it delivered to his home and Optimus shook his head no and told the woman that he would be back for it in a few hours.

He jotted down his cell phone number and quietly left the store to go take care of an errand or two before his suit got there.

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Saya didn't get to nap long before she got a call from Harold who told her to go ahead and get ready for the party. Irritated and just a little bit amused too, Saya got herself up off of her couch and grabbed the dresses and several other things to so that she could go do as she was told.

Once in her bedroom she tried to tackle the task of which dress to wear.

She took her time, trying on each dress induvidually before settling on the off mint green one. It just looked stunning on her. The pale color gave her skin a nice healthy glow, and made the color of her eyes more vivid.

Not only that but it was easier to create a look around it. All she had to do was style her hair and put on some pink lip gloss and maybe some pastel eyeshadow and she would be ready to go.

She grabbed a box of shoes and one of the boxes with the green amethysts in it and walked into the bathroom to finish getting ready.

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Optimus ran out of the hair salon with a scowl on his face.

The guy that he had asked to cut his hair had flat out refused to cut it short because it was 'simply too perfect to ruin'. Frankly Optimus thought that the man had wanted his hair to stay long so that he'd have an excuse to run his fingers through his dark hair and continue to coo at him like he was an idiot or something.

It had made the Autobot feel rather uncomfortable.

Which was why he had grabbed a pair of scissors and cut off a portion of his hair at the nape before the man could turn back around and stop him. To say that the hair stylist hadn't been too pleased with him would be an understatment.

The damned man had nearly ripped out some of Optimus's hair when he had been evening it up in the back. Still in the end Optimus's long hair had been cut short in the back and trimmed a just _little_ shorter in the front. And much to Optimus's shock and displeasure had caused the man fixing his hair to call over a few girls whom had all taken turns running their fingers through his hair and cooing at him.

Which had led to him feeling so anxious about escaping them that he had more or less thrown a few hundreds at the group and run like hell. He still had some things to do. Like go pick up his suit and find some shoes. He looked back over his shoulder at the hair salon and shuddered.

He wasn't _ever_ going into a place like that again.


	17. Chapter 17

Saya couldn't escape the party no matter how much she tried. Maddy had posted studs at every conceivable exit to keep her from escaping. The diabolical, evil woman.

She made a huffing sound and crossed her arms over her breasts and was only a little bit startled when Harold brushed by and said in a hushed tone, "Smile dear. My wife wants you to attract a good husband. So be sure to show them how sharp those little teeth of your are and scare them all away."

Saya gave a weird toothy non smile as her right eye twitched and Harold laughed and shook his head and muttered, "Brilliant. You look like you're deranged!"

"Good." Saya groused as she grabbed a wine glass from a tray being carried by a server that Maddy had hired. The more deranged she looked, the less likely she would be to leave the party with someone who thought they were soul mates. That suited her just fine.

The minutes ticked by, turning to one hour then two and everytime she turned around Maddy was sending Harold to get her so that he could introduce her to someone new. She'd lost track of the names of the men she met after about forty five minutes.

She knew there was a guy named Hawk Malone, he was twenty nine, a model, made millions of dollars for doing practically nothing- But like the other's he'd annoyed her. Though he'd annoyed her in a greater way. He'd taken one look at her and asked if she wanted to slip away and get naked.

She'd laughed in his face and pushed him into the ice sculpture.

He'd sworn that she would regret her actions in the usual theatrical way. And she'd laughed again at his display of childish arrogance then turned to Harold who had witnessed the whole mess and said, "This is why I've never dated models. Childish and arrogant, they expect everyone to hand them what they want when they want it. Bastards the whole lot of them."

"If you say so dear." Harold said as he patted her hand then walked away to see if he could catch the young man so that he could have a little talk with him about how to treat a lady.

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Optimus entered the house he'd picked out of Sam's mind, decked out in his suit and tie, his hair combed back so that only a few of the dark strands hung over his forehead, and looked around.

Gods the things humans did to throw special occasion parties were atrocious! The mere lengths some of the females went too to make everything _perfect_ made him cringe in horror. Honestly he had no idea how human males put up with some of this stuff.

But there was one good thing about having been around humans for a while today...he now knew the greatest torture device to send to Megatron the next time he pushed his buttons. He even had his choices narrowed down to several things.

1) An female interior decorator. To decorate his evil lair. Optimus was thinking something in lavender and pink with eggshell white undertones would spruce up the evil bots place nicely.

And then there was choice two. 2) A human bride.

Just imagining the once evil bot reduced to a cowering mess of metal and bolts because of wedding plans alone was enough to make the Autobot leader grin. However this was neither the time nor place so instead he toned it down some.

His lips slightly curved at the corners, he held tightly to that particular amusing thought and scanned the room for any traces of Sam. He found that since this was the first time in several years that he'd seen the boy, he was feeling rather jittery.

His palms were sweating and his heart felt like it was trying to explode out of his chest. _This must be what is often referred too as nervousness. _Optimus thought as he grabbed a wine glass as a server walked by and took a small sip and nearly jumped out of his human skin when he felt a small fine boned hand grab his ass.

Startled he spat out his wine and quickly wheeled around to deal with the person who dared to grab him and blinked down at the grinning face of an abnormally happy forty-ish year old woman with shoulder length curly blond hair and piercing blue/grey eyes. "My-" The woman said in a breathless tone. "You are a pretty faced fella aren't you?"

Optimus gave her a slightly panicked look and she giggled and hooked one of her arms through his and started walking. Ignoring the fact that she was partially dragging him along with her as she chattered at him. "Why I don't think I've ever seen a fella as pretty as you before. Tell me what's your name? What do you do for a living? Oh Saya is just going to eat you up!"

Optimus listened for several moments abesently answering her without realizing. "Optimus Prime. Soldier. Please don't let anyone eat me up. I'm supposed to meet someone here."

"Oh listen to you-" The woman scoffed. "You act like there are rabid animals in here." Optimus looked over his shoulder worriedly, his eyes scanning for rabid animals running wild and free out in the yard somewhere when a stunning dark haired beauty in a pale green dress stepped in their path and snapped.

"Maddy! Mind you're manners and let that poor man go right now!" Optimus knew little to nothing about human women and their behavior, and so when the younger woman snapped at the elder woman, he felt this peculiar icey sliver of fear work it's way down his spine and wondered if he was going to make it home tonight in one peice.


	18. Chapter 18

Luckily for Optimus, the older woman merely smiled at the young lady in green and let go of his arm and said, "Why Saya, I was just bringing this fine young man to meet you... But since you're here to save him, I'll give him over to you and just go find my husband-" The woman released Optimus and beat a hasty retreat as he heard the soft footsteps of the woman named Saya as she came close to him and let out a tired sigh.

"I'm sorry about Maddy, sir. She's just so- so-"

Optimus looked down at her and said in a wry tone. "_Terrifying. _Yes she is. There for a moment I was worried I'd wind up chewing my own arm off..." Optimus said as his lips curved up slightly at the mental image. Ah if his men could see him now, they'd laugh themselves until they short circuited.

The young woman gave a half laugh, half snort that she tried to hide behind one dainty hand when he suddenly recalled his earlier musings about Megatron and asked, "Does she have any friends who are still single?"

The young woman's amusement faded a bit and she sighed again and muttered, "Just me." Optimus gave the young woman a peculiar look, his eerie blue eyes sweeping over her body before deeming her too young and fragile to be bound to one such as Megatron. The giant mecha would wind up either breaking or killing her.

_No_, Optimus thought with a small shake of his head, this woman would do better as his mate than anyone elses. _He_ at least would treat her kindly and with dignity. "I'm sorry if I offended you with my question-" He said in an effort to smooth over the mistake that he had obviously made before when he asked if 'Maddy' had any single friends and Saya slowly shook her head.

A small wry smile tugging at her lips. "Don't worry about it, sir-"

"Optimus." He interrupted her in a coaxing tone, wanting to hear his name on her lips. She blinked up at him and smiled in amusement but didn't say anything else for a moment as they just stood there, looking around before Saya announced.

"I think I'd like to go home." Optimus made a noncommental sound and looked around one last time. He could sense that Sam was somewhere close by but he just couldn't seem to zero in on his friend's location. He knew that the boy-wherever he was was close. _Very close_. Like reaching distance close.

But he wasn't willing to grab some random people around him and ask them if they were Sam. So instead he sighed, feeling the crushing weight of his failure to find the boy, again. And instead turned his attention to the woman beside him. Grasping her hand gently in his own, he kissed her knuckles then said, "If you would like, I'll take you home."

_And wouldn't that give Maddy and Harold something to pester me about._ Saya thought as her cheeks turned a soft pink color as she started to shake her head again and decline his offer then stopped when she remembered that she had drank just a bit too much wine and couldn't drive herself back home. Not that she had a car to drive herself home with anyways.

Maddy had had Harold pick her up in a limo so that she couldn't scamper home at the drop of a hat. So it looked like she had no choice but to either take the dark haired man's offer or stay until the party wound down and Maddy had her engaged. Looking up at the man, her eyes beseeching, she studied him as he deftly maneuvered them through the throng of bodies surrounding them.

He was a handsome man. Some would even dare to say he was masculinely beautiful with his dark hair, and peculiar eyes- He'd have to be careful or he'd have every woman in the city out to snag him for themselves or their daughters. _God knows he'd make beautiful babies. _She thought wistfully, and didn't notice when his hand tightened around her own until it felt like he was trying to crush her hand.

"Ow!" She yelped as she tried to pull her hand from his own only to find that they had stopped moving and he was staring down at her wide eyed in shock and disbelief. She reached out and swatted at his hand in an effort to get him to let go and was relieved when he finally, slowly loosened his fingers, his expression now closed off to her.

"I-I'm sorry. I was thinking about something upsetting and forgot that I was holding your hand-" He half lied, hoping that he hadn't scared her away as she eyed him suspiciously and rubbed her wounded hand. "Are you alright? I didn't break anything did I?" He asked in a worried tone.

"Ah, no. No I don't think anything's broken. I was just surprised by your grip. It's very strong." Saya said almost warily as her mind practically screamed, _Danger! Danger! _

He was silent for a moment then gave her a small smile. Trying to put her at ease with his presence without saying anything as she finally said, "Ya know, your crazy grip aside; a ride home would be lovely."

"As you wish, Saya." Optimus said as he maneuvered them over to the nearest door, pausing briefly to let her get her purse and coat then held the door open for her before following her out into the cool night air.


	19. Chapter 19

Saya wasn't sure what had gotten into her. She generally wasn't the type of gal to get into a vehicle with a strange man, much less let him take her home. But there just seemed to be something about the tall, muscular, dark haired man. Something that she couldn't quite put her finger on. All she knew was that he made her feel..._comfortable_. Protected. _Almost as if I've known him my whole life. _She thought as he led her to a sporty red car that looked like something right out of Fast and Furious.

Blinking in disbelief- it was on the tip of her tongue to ask him if the vehicle was really his- as he pulled out the keys and unlocked the passenger side and pulled the door open for her and then held his hand out to her and indicated for her to take it so that he could help her climb in.

She flushed slightly in embarrassment. Unable to think beyond how strange it was for her to let a man treat her like she was as delicate as glass. Climbing into the car, she carefully (albeit a little awkwardly) crossed her ankles in an effort to make herself feel a little more comfortable as Optimus closed her car door and quickly walked around to the driver's side and climbed in before she finally managed to ask, "What did you say you did for a living?"

Optimus looked at her for a moment, his expression slightly amused before he replied, "I didn't." Which was true. The only person he'd told his occupation too was the weird woman that had groped him.

"Okay..." Saya said in a slightly uneasy tone before asking, "Would you mind telling me what you do for a living?"

"I'm a soldier in a secret branch of the US military. If you want more information I'm afraid I can't give it to you without clearance to do so. Besides, if I did, I'd be endangering your life." Saya let out a slightly hysterical sounding, well, sound. Instantly letting Optimus know that he may have just frightened the poor woman before he tried to take her mind off of his job by asking about her own.

What did she do for a living? What was it like to do what she did? Did she like her job?

She seemed to instantly push aside the little bit of information about himself that he had given her and began to answer his questions when his line of questioning took a slightly strange turn when he started to ask her if she was dating anyone seriously. Looking for a boyfriend? Plans for the future?

The more he asked, the more she got the feeling that he was fishing for something. Something that she wasn't sure she wanted him to know. Don't get her wrong, he didn't come across as a bad guy. Or a creep or anything particularly unsavory like some of the people she had dealt with and known in her life. He appeared to be a strong, respectful, capable man.

But he also seemed like he was just a little bit... what was the best way to describe him? _Lost? _She couldn't imagine what it was about him that gave her that impression, but the impression was there nevertheless.

She was jolted out of her thoughts when the car came to a stop at a red light and Optimus took a moment to look at her, his strange yet beautiful neon blue eyes seemingly staring right into her soul before he reached out and turned on his radio and tuned into a local station that played soft rock and made sure that the volume was low enough for them to talk a little more if they wished or to just listen to the music.

Apparently he was like her. He was good with either choice.

"Where do you live?" He asked as the light turned green and he slowly put the vehicle back into motion. A little worried about telling him her address since she didn't know anything about him aside from he was a military man, she hesitated for a moment before noting that they were perhaps a block from her house and quickly said.

"Up here, on the corner. The yellow house on the right." All while thinking, _Sorry Optimus, but I don't exactly trust strangers_. Besides if crazy old Miss Swanson ended up dead from a house invasion or something then she'd know who did it.

Optimus nodded and drove up to the curb, a small frown marring his face as he parked the car and turned to face Saya again. He could feel a great deal of anxiousness that hadn't been there before, coming from the mental link between himself and Sam. Reaching out with his mind, he traced the mental link as far as he could without difficulty and asked, _Are you alright? I can feel your anxiousness._

Saya was about to thank Optimus for the ride and scamper out of the car and make a hasty retreat back to her lonesome little house when she heard the damned voice in her head again and almost groaned aloud. Great, this was just what she needed. A voice in her head and a very polite and attractive man that she didn't really trust, vying for her attention.

_I'm fine. Go away! _She snapped quickly as she managed to simultaneously thank Optimus for the ride and move for the door, completely missing the look of wide eyed shock on the man's face as she climbed out of his car and started walking.


	20. Chapter 20

Sam. He'd found Sam in one of the most unexpected ways possible. So much so that he had been struck absoutely speechless. Don't get him wrong, he was happy to have finally found his young human friend. And now partially understood why Sam didn't remember him or his past life. It was because when he had been 'killed' his body had shut down for a temporary amount of time. Enough for him to be pronounced dead before everything (brain functions, lungs, heart) had all started working again forcing upon him what Optimus and the other Autobots called an automatic system crash and wipe.

Everything had been erased from Sam's mind because while he had been (still, technically 'dead') his body had been forced through a physical change that had been so agonizingly severe that even when he had finally been able to move- his only thoughts had been to escape. Escape and survive.

And he had. All alone for two excruciating years.

Optimus wasn't sure if he should be _impressed_ or_ horrified_ that Sam had lasted so long without him and the others nearby to help him-er her. Whatever. Leaning back in his car seat he let his head fall back on his shoulders until it rested against the leather as he closed his eyes and tried to think of what to do now.

He knew that he should contact Will and the others and let them know that Sam had finally been found. But he also knew that the second he did everyone would be demanding either A) Vacation time to track him down. Or B) Demanding him to uproot Sam from the cozy comfortable life she had made for herself, and bring her back to the hanger where they would want one of their medics to check her out. And then try to settle her a little closer to base just in case her life was ever endangered again.

Bee would demand to be put back at his former post as Sam's protector.

Something that Optimus understood but currently couldn't allow since the younger bot was proving to be a key player in the war against the Decepticons. _Enough wishy-washy bullshit, either call your friends or don't! _Saya's voice rang out in his mind causing him to tense up. She sounded irritated with him. Or perhaps it was his indecisiveness. He wasn't sure which when he heard her go on to say, _Though why a figment of my mind would need to make a call, I haven't the faintest clue. Now please knock it off. Your giving me a headache..._

Ah. Optimus thought. That explained her current waspishness. As an alien mecha, he'd never experienced a 'headache' but he'd seen Will and a few others suffer from some that lay them low for days. _Forgive me, _Optimus thought. Slightly amused with what he was about to say as he went on, _I didn't mean to give you a headache, but this ET needs to phone home._

_Fantastic. While your at it see if the ET's back home will keep you. _

Letting his lips curl up in a small semblance of a smile, he asked. _Tired of me already? _To which Saya replied.

_I've been tired of you. Now stop talking to me. I'm tired and I want to go to sleep._

_As you wish. _Optimus thought, his voice softer than velvet brushing the corners of her mind before he cut off their connection. Marveling at how adept she had become at reaching out to him whenever he least expected it. Reaching into his pants pocket, he fished out the cell phone that he had had Will get for him shortly before he had left base, he flipped it open and quickly dialed the secure line for the base and was automatically directed to the hanger's main phone line.

Then waited patiently for someone to answer.


End file.
